A Reign of Blood and Fire
by Vivienne-Devereaux
Summary: Nearly a century after she became a vampire, Elena has lost everyone, even herself. Armed with a new body Elena, now called Marie, travels back to the past and is given the chance to change the future. Unapologetically Damon/Elena.


**Disclaimer: **I own nothing.

**Summary: Elena has lost everyone, even herself. Armed with a new body Elena, now called Marie, travels back to the past and is given the chance to change the future. Unapologetically Damon/Elena.**

**A/N: I realize that the concept may be a bit confusing, but I would really appreciate it if you could give it a chance. **

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"How long has it been since you slept?" Bonnie braced herself for the lashing out that she expected; Elena didn't take kindly to people worrying about her nowadays. "Elena, stop." Bonnie sighed, shutting the aged leather grimoire before running her fingers through her greying hair, "You're going to keel over if you don't take a break." The other woman ignored her and continued rifling through the wall of books, throwing them this way and that when she didn't find the one that she was looking for.

Bonnie rose from the cold metal chair, crossing the room to where her former best friend was standing. It was her. And at the same time, it was a different person entirely. A tattered black hairband held long, fiery red hair at bay from sharp porcelain features. Blazing green eyes barely glanced up at the witch when Bonnie came to stand beside her. "Please, Elena. You aren't a vampire anymore!" Bonnie put a hand on her shoulder, "You need to rest."

The redhead stopped, almost freezing for an instant before taking a deep breath and shutting the red leather grimoire so loudly that it echoed off of the cement walls, "I need to rest?" She smirked mockingly, "Who do you think you are, my mother? You may look older than I do, but that doesn't mean a goddamn thing." She dusted her hands off and looked up, "Elena Gilbert is dead. I told you, _my name is Marie_."

"You're still you." Bonnie continued softly, "You're still my friend."

"No. I'm not. Your friend died with her body. This," Marie motioned to herself, "is _your_ fault." Her voice was shaking, now…whether it was sorrow or rage that fueled her, she didn't know, "I shouldn't be walking around in someone else's skin, Bonnie! You should've let me die!"

Bonnie would regret her next words for the rest of her life. "If I'd known that you were going to be such a pessimistic bitch, maybe I would have!" And with that, the witch stormed out of the room.

Marie opened her mouth to respond, but the door had already shut behind Bonnie. She clenched her jaw shut, leaning her head against the bookcase, trying to calm herself; this new body didn't have much of a handle on its hormones. Maybe it was the red hair… Clearing her throat, Marie retrieved the grimoire she'd practically thrown to the floor. It had opened to a weathered page near the middle of the volume, there were bits missing here and there where the ink had been worn away. Marie flipped the book over, glancing at the year stamped into the spine. 2011; a little over a century ago. Christ, she felt old…Odd, considering her body was a mere twenty-three years old.

Turning back to the open page, Marie's eyes locked on the faded photo of an ancient gold and sapphire ring. Pure joy spread over her features. This was exactly what they'd been looking for; The Escrik Ring. The ring was the only chance that they had to defeat Silas. He'd destroyed every mention of the it, making even a picture of The Escrik Ring previously impossible to find. But now… "Gotcha." Marie hissed triumphantly, dog-earing the page before practically running out of the makeshift library of grimoires to find Bonnie.

Marie jogged through the halls of the church that had recently become their home, every now and then poking her head into one of the rooms to see if that was where the witch had gone off to. "Bonnie?" She called, hesitantly, slightly worried about how much she'd angered the witch. "Oh, come on, Bonnie! I'm sorry!" Marie continued through the church for a good ten minutes, apologizing to thin air while she searched for her friend. The last place that she checked was the sanctuary. It was the last place that she thought that Bonnie would go. Neither of them really felt comfortable in there; it was too open, too bright.

The door was cracked open and a tiny thread of light poured out into the hallway. "Bonnie!" She spied the witch kneeling at the altar. Strange. Neither of them was very religious.

Marie threw the ornate double-doors open and began the long trek to the front of the sanctuary, "I found it!" She held the book up victoriously as her voice bounced off of the stone walls, "I finally found it! He didn't burn them all; there's even a picture of the damned thing!" She laughed with glee, "Bonnie? Didn't you hear me? We finally have a chance at beating Silas!" Marie's happiness turned to confusion as she got closer, "Bonnie?"

Her only remaining friend's grey hair was shrouding her face and spilling onto the altar. Something was different. The altar was unpainted and made of marble. This altar was red. "No!" Marie dropped the book and sprinted to Bonnie's side, "Bonnie? Bonnie!" Marie put a hand to her shoulder and pulled. The witch's body fell backward out of its mocking prayer pose and onto the ground. Bits of gray hair still clung to the altar, stuck in the blood that it was caked with.

Something animalistic had been awakened inside of her. A scream of pure anguish tore itself from where her heart used to reside as she clutched Bonnie's lifeless body in desperation. There were no tears; Marie didn't have any left.

"Did I kill your friend?" A male voice asked from behind her in an amused tone. Suddenly, she could feel his breath on her ear, "Oops." He chuckled.

Everyone was dead. They were all dead. Matt, Bonnie, Tyler, Jeremy, Caroline, Stefan, Damon…She was the only one left. She remembered her own death, or Elena's death, really; she'd died to protect Damon, holding through the months of torture from Silas and his witches. Bonnie found her moments after she died. Elena had been waiting for the moment that the pain would end, and she welcomed it.

Bonnie. Vengeful, desperate Bonnie…She ruined everything. She'd practically leveled the place, leaving Silas as the only survivor after she'd transferred Elena into the body that she now resided. All magic comes at a price. The spell had cut a good thirty years from her friend's life and weakened her magic, not to mention made Silas hell bent on slaughtering Bonnie. But it had served its purpose; no one knew that Elena was alive. Not even Elena knew, since she'd become Marie. Elena had ceased to exist.

Marie cautiously inched her hand toward the dagger on the belt of Bonnie's dress. As soon as her hand closed around the hilt, Marie leapt to her feet and lashed out with all of her strength, but to her dismay the man was no longer behind her. Her eyes darted back and forth, searching the few shadows of the sanctuary for any signs of life. Turning back to the altar, she came face to face with the man.

Short, dark hair ending at a widow's peak contrasted sharply with a pale, angular face. Stubble framed a strong, square jaw; he stood at least a full foot taller than Marie. If this were any other situation, Marie might have found him attractive, but his hands ruined that picture. He had dipped his fingers in Bonnie's blood and was licking them clean with a smirk. Vampire. "Why is it, I wonder—" He darted around to stand in front of Marie, "—that a witch would keep company with a human?" Marie freezes, waiting…The vampire pricks his finger on the tip of the dagger, licking the tiny drop of crimson away with another flash of white teeth.

"Human?" Marie finally speaks, "What makes you think that I'm human?"

"Hmm…Maybe the heartbeat?" He tapped her shoulder lightly with two fingers, matching the rhythm of her heart as her circled her like a bird of prey. "Or maybe it's the sweet smell of your fear?" The vampire licked his lips.

_Do it. Please, just do it. Kill me._

Taking a deep breath, Marie closed her eyes. Flashes of memory darted through her mind. She remembered the time when she was Elena…dear, human, fragile Elena. And then she had been Elena the vampire; broken, tragic and strong at the same time…Now, she was Marie. Marie was Elena, and at the same time, she was not. Elena wanted to die, to join everyone that had preceded her in death; her friends, her family, her lover…

Marie wanted to live.

Unfortunately, she didn't realize that until the vampire's teeth closed over her throat.

Marie twisted the knife in her grip, slamming it back into the vampire's stomach with all of the force she could muster. The skin of her throat tore as she ripped herself from his grip and he faltered, struggling with the dagger. She scrambled to her feet, nearly slipping in the cold pool of blood. As Marie rushed to the railing around the altar, she heard the dagger clatter to the floor. She kicked in one of the pegs. It splintered as her combat boot connected with it. "Come on, come on!" She mutters to herself as she struggled to tug the remaining peg, now a makeshift stake, from its anchor. Marie spun around to face the vampire just as he seized her with an unholy strength and sent her crashing through one of the stained glass windows.

Grass. She had expected grass. Or maybe stone…but Marie had landed on an oak table that collapsed beneath her. She groaned in pain, rolling to her side and attempting to get to her feet to meet her attacker. A couple of her ribs were definitely broken. What she wouldn't give to be a vampire…

As her senses cleared from the shock that the impact had produced, Marie heard voices. She knew that she had to be hallucinating because the voices were of people that had died many years before…or maybe she could randomly see dead people. Stranger things had happened.

"What was that?" Marie thought that Stefan's voice came from far off, or maybe her hearing was still fuzzy. "Damon?"

"Nope." That voice sent knives into her heart. Marie drew in a ragged breath as Damon spoke again. She got to her feet, brushing herself off the best she could before turning to where the voices were coming from. Damon was holding up his hands in a mock-surrender as the Salvatore brothers entered the room that she'd just fallen into. "Not me, brother."

His eyes locked on her, darted to the window, and then back to her. "Who the hell are you?" Damon asked incredulously, looking her up and down as Stefan approached cautiously.

In that moment, for a fleeting second, Marie was Elena again. The human girl that was so in love…Marie cleared her throat, preparing herself to explain as she brushed the shards of glass from her clothes, "It's me. I'm El—"

A patter of footsteps interrupted her as a young human female with brunette hair came running into the room, "Stay back, Elena." Stefan warned, eyeing Marie suspiciously.

"What's going on?" Marie heard her younger self ask. _Great minds think alike._

Marie blinked twice, shook her head and with a slight smile said, "Well, isn't this trippy…" All of these feelings rushing back to her were making her head spin. Love, hate, anger, fear, passion, sorrow. "When exactly am I?" She managed, hands on her hips as she took the liberty of looking Damon up and down. He noticed and returned the favor, the smug bastard. "What is the year?" Marie prodded, making sure to enunciate every word as she put a hand to her neck. Yep, still bleeding.

"2010." Stefan answered, stepping slightly in front of Elena.

Marie tried to remember what all had happened that year. There was "Ripper Stefan," and Alaric's crazy alter-ego…oh, and this was the year that she had been turned into a vampire. Great. "How is this –" She made a cutting motion, "You know what? Never mind."

"Hey, you're out of it; I get it." Damon started, "Seriously now, though." As Damon stepped closer, his playful expression changed to menacing, "Who are you?"

"Marie. My name's Marie." She glanced up at Elena awkwardly. Total mindfuck. Marie managed a smile, "And you are?"

"Damon." He nodded back to Stefan, "My brother Stefan and his—our— she's Elena."

The girl in question shuffled her feet awkwardly as she looked at me in awe. "What happened to you?"

"Spoilers." Marie said almost giddy and winked, tossing another smile in for good measure. She was pretty sure that she was about to pass out, what with the spots dancing before her eyes and the room beginning to spin.

Out of nowhere, something came crashing into her, sending her sprawling onto the floor. Coupled with the dizziness, Marie felt like she'd been hit by a freight train. The vampire from the church. Right. She'd almost forgotten about him.

Marie noticed that Stefan had placed himself firmly in front of Elena, while Damon took the initiative to step up and rip the vampire's heart out. As she surveyed the trio, Marie remembered how much she cared about the brothers. They would give their lives for her and she would attempt to do the same, with disastrous results for herself and her only remaining friend. "Thanks." Marie muttered as she took the clean hand that Damon offered to help her up with.

"Don't thank me yet."

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**A/N: Alrighty people, you know the drill. R&R. **

**Read and Review. Read and Relax. Read and Repulse. **

**I really don't care, but feedback would be great.**


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